Salaries in Knoxville.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.89x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$305,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$129,000
AI Incident Response Analyst
Entry Level
$28,000
Home Health Aide
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
Knoxville, TN has a cost-of-living index of 0.89x the national average. The highest-paying role is Distinguished Engineer at $305,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $129,000. Knoxville benefits from the presence of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
About the Knoxville market
Knoxville benefits from the presence of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The national lab drives strong demand for research scientists, engineers, and data analysts. No state income tax and affordable living make it an attractive value proposition.
National Labs & ResearchHigher EducationEnergyHealthcareManufacturing
Top 50 salaries in Knoxville
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Distinguished Engineer | $305,000 | $231,000 – $389,000 |
| 2 | Chief AI Officer | $265,000 | $197,000 – $342,000 |
| 3 | Chief Technology Officer | $258,000 | $191,000 – $338,000 |
| 4 | VP of AI | $258,000 | $196,000 – $338,000 |
| 5 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $252,000 | $188,000 – $329,000 |
| 6 | Head of AI | $250,000 | $185,000 – $324,000 |
| 7 | SVP of AI Innovation | $249,000 | $188,000 – $327,000 |
| 8 | Chief Revenue Officer | $244,000 | $183,000 – $323,000 |
| 9 | VP of Engineering | $241,000 | $180,000 – $315,000 |
| 10 | CEO | $240,000 | $174,000 – $331,000 |
| 11 | Chief Product Officer | $240,000 | $178,000 – $316,000 |
| 12 | Head of AI Research | $240,000 | $178,000 – $316,000 |
| 13 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $239,000 | $179,000 – $312,000 |
| 14 | Chief Data Officer | $236,000 | $177,000 – $309,000 |
| 15 | Chief Marketing Officer | $234,000 | $175,000 – $306,000 |
| 16 | Principal Engineer | $234,000 | $180,000 – $306,000 |
| 17 | Chief Operating Officer | $231,000 | $172,000 – $309,000 |
| 18 | VP of AI Product | $229,000 | $171,000 – $297,000 |
| 19 | VP of AI Engineering | $229,000 | $173,000 – $298,000 |
| 20 | CFO | $222,000 | $167,000 – $295,000 |
| 21 | Head of Applied AI | $222,000 | $166,000 – $292,000 |
| 22 | VP of Product | $218,000 | $165,000 – $280,000 |
| 23 | Head of AI Partnerships | $218,000 | $162,000 – $287,000 |
| 24 | Head of AI Platform | $214,000 | $160,000 – $281,000 |
| 25 | Director of Generative AI | $211,000 | $159,000 – $277,000 |
| 26 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $209,000 | $158,000 – $272,000 |
| 27 | AI Transformation Officer | $209,000 | $157,000 – $275,000 |
| 28 | VP of Product Design | $205,000 | $153,000 – $266,000 |
| 29 | VP of Marketing | $205,000 | $153,000 – $270,000 |
| 30 | VP of Sales | $205,000 | $154,000 – $273,000 |
| 31 | Director of Engineering | $202,000 | $156,000 – $261,000 |
| 32 | CTO, AI Startup | $201,000 | $157,000 – $262,000 |
| 33 | Staff Engineer | $198,000 | $157,000 – $252,000 |
| 34 | AI Program Director | $194,000 | $147,000 – $255,000 |
| 35 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $193,000 | $142,000 – $255,000 |
| 36 | AI Financial Engineer | $191,000 | $141,000 – $245,000 |
| 37 | Foundation Model Engineer | $191,000 | $142,000 – $249,000 |
| 38 | AI Cloud Architect | $190,000 | $143,000 – $241,000 |
| 39 | Director of AI Strategy | $190,000 | $144,000 – $249,000 |
| 40 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $189,000 | $141,000 – $247,000 |
| 41 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $189,000 | $141,000 – $250,000 |
| 42 | Director of Data Science | $184,000 | $141,000 – $239,000 |
| 43 | AI Alignment Researcher | $184,000 | $137,000 – $245,000 |
| 44 | AI Systems Architect | $184,000 | $139,000 – $241,000 |
| 45 | AI World Model Engineer | $184,000 | $137,000 – $243,000 |
| 46 | Engineering Manager, AI | $183,000 | $147,000 – $229,000 |
| 47 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $182,000 | $136,000 – $236,000 |
| 48 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $180,000 | $135,000 – $234,000 |
| 49 | Neuro AI Engineer | $179,000 | $133,000 – $237,000 |
| 50 | AI Research Scientist | $178,000 | $134,000 – $231,000 |
Tax considerations
Tennessee has no state income tax on wages. Knoxville has no city income tax. This zero income tax environment combined with very affordable housing creates excellent purchasing power.
Negotiating in Knoxville
Highlight Oak Ridge National Lab and DOE experience. National lab affiliations and security clearances command significant premiums in the Knoxville area.
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